OpenTelemetry and Dynatrace

Overview
2-min read

OpenTelemetry (OTel) provides a standardized way of collecting and exporting telemetry data. It allows applications and infrastructure to transmit telemetry to backends (such as Dynatrace) using vendor-agnostic formats. These backends can then aggregate and analyze the data.

OpenTelemetry integration with Dynatrace delivers powerful Dynatrace monitoring and analytics for all core observability needs.

You can implement this service by service, adopting OpenTelemetry's open standards where openness matters most, while leveraging OneAgent's enhanced features where you need them. Dynatrace supports this flexible approach, ensuring you experience industry-leading analytics regardless of how you mix your instrumentation choices.

Why use OpenTelemetry with Dynatrace?

Dynatrace provides end-to-end observability for all your application telemetry while embracing OpenTelemetry standards. With its unified observability approach, Dynatrace offers a comprehensive platform for viewing, storing, and correlating all OpenTelemetry signals in one place. This solution empowers you to simplify complexity and innovate faster by extracting maximum value from your data, regardless of origin.

Dynatrace provides you with:

Powerful analytics at scale. Execute massive queries at lightning speed by leveraging the power of Grail with your OpenTelemetry data, turning telemetry data into actionable and intelligent insights for faster problem resolution.
Intelligence beyond instrumentation. Dynatrace enriches OpenTelemetry data with business context and advanced analytics to deliver actionable intelligence, rather than just data collection.
Accelerated innovation. Navigate OpenTelemetry data with out-of-the-box analysis, dynamic visualizations, and instant performance insights that foster collaboration between development and operations teams.
Seamless integration. Enable easier integration of data into the Dynatrace Platform.

How is Dynatrace involved with OpenTelemetry?

Dynatrace is deeply committed to the OpenTelemetry ecosystem through multiple avenues of involvement:

Dynatrace is one of the top contributors to the OpenTelemetry project with key maintainer roles, helping shape its core functionality and direction.
Dynatrace is actively involved through leadership positions on multiple OpenTelemetry special interest groups (SIGs) and on the OpenTelemetry Technical Committee. This helps to shape the future direction of OpenTelemetry standards and practices.
Dynatrace supports over 30 open-source projects and contributes to multiple open-source offerings, reflecting its deep commitment to community-driven innovation.

Multiple pathways to leverage your OpenTelemetry data

Dynatrace meets customers where they are in their observability journey, offering multiple ingestion options for getting OpenTelemetry signals into the platform including:

OTLP
Dynatrace Collector
Dynatrace OneAgent

For details, see Send data to Dynatrace.

Licensing

Licensing for OpenTelemetry data is fully integrated into the Dynatrace Platform Subscription model, ensuring that all telemetry types (traces and spans, metrics, logs) are billed transparently and consistently.

Dynatrace Semantic Dictionary

The Dynatrace Semantic Dictionary provides standardized naming conventions for metrics, logs, and spans. Using these conventions ensures optimal integration with Dynatrace's analytics capabilities.

Learn more about the Semantic Dictionary at Semantic Dictionary.

Expand your OpenTelemetry knowledge

Continue your learning journey with these resources:

Ingest via OneAgent provides deeper code-level insights, enabling specialized capabilities like method hotspot analysis.

Getting started

Learn about the OpenTelemetry basics with Dynatrace

Application instrumentation

Discover how to use the OpenTelemetry SDK in your applications

Export with OTLP to Dynatrace

Learn how to configure your OpenTelemetry exporter to successfully export to Dynatrace

OpenTelemetry Collector

Learn how to use the Collector to batch and transform telemetry data

Ingest with OneAgent

Find out how to ingest OpenTelemetry traces using OneAgent's code module OpenTelemetry sensor

Platform & Technology integrations

How to integrate OpenTelemetry with popular platforms

OpenTelemetry Troubleshooting

How to fix the most common instrumentation and ingestion issues